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Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes every Tuesday and Thursday the key news for Latino communities in the hemisphere.
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1 topic to highlight: Republicans seek more Latino candidates
The largest organization of state Republican leaders is
trying to remedy the lack of Latino lawmakers from their party.
Why It Matters
: Republicans want to seize the opportunity to grab key swing state seats in November, and bolster themselves with a more diverse caucus now that many Latinos are shifting away from voting Democrat as they once did.
The gap in favor of Democrats in the partisan preferences of Hispanic adults has narrowed.
From March to June, it fell from 16 points to 12 in an Ipsos poll for Axios Latino.
More details
: The State Republican Leadership Committee announced that it will dedicate $50,000 for a commercial in Spanish that will be broadcast via the web in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas.
"The Democrats don't take us seriously," the commercial says, adding that a Democratic "one-party government" would be no good, referring to control of Congress and the White House.
In numbers
: There are 451 Hispanic state legislators;
87% are Democrats and 13% are Republicans, the National Caucus of Hispanic State Legislators reported to Axios Latino.
In 2002, 30% of Hispanic legislators were Republicans, according to Kenneth Romero-Cruz, the executive director of that caucus.
Shoshanna Gordon/Axios
The fact:
New Mexico Republicans presented a list of candidates with the largest number of Latinos in the party's state history.
In their own words
: "Democrats are losing ground in Hispanic communities because their radical agenda is responsible for skyrocketing inflation, high gas prices and rising violent crime," said Dee Duncan, chair of the State Committee on Republican leadership.
The Other Perspective
: Christina Polizzi, a spokeswoman for the House Democratic Campaign Committee, said Republicans have a lot of work to do to even out their diversity.
"All the Republicans have to offer is chaos. They have no real solutions for families," Polizzi said.
2. La Culinaria campaigns for Democrats
Nevada's largest union
, the Culinary Workers Union, revealed this week that it supports the Democratic Party in the November midterm elections.
He is going into homes and chatting with his members to discuss the economic issues that are pressing for Latinos, he told the Axios Today podcast.
Why It Matters
: The union represents 60,000 Nevada hotel, bar and casino employees and took credit for Joe Biden winning Nevada in the 2020 presidential election. La Culinaria's goal in November is to reach 1.1 million voters in his biggest door-to-door campaign.
A Latina woman, part of the Culinary Workers Union, knocks on doors in June as part of a voter mobilization campaign in Nevada.David Becker for The Washington Post via Getty Images
54% of union members are Latino.
The group is frustrated by how some economists, corporations and the GOP have blamed inflation on stimulus checks and demands for higher wages, its secretary-treasurer, Ted Pappageorge, told Axios Today.
The Inflation Reduction Act recently passed in the Senate is a good starting point for Democrats to "come out fighting with a message against inflation," he added.
Big Picture
: Inflation is eroding Latino support for the Democratic Party, according to polls.
In Nevada, Latino voters have increased substantially.
More than 165,000 are likely to vote this November, nearly 6% more than in 2020, according to projections from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
Details
: La Culinaria's door-to-door campaign began in March and includes 100 members who took time off work to campaign, the union said.
They have already visited 50,000 homes and hope to double that figure soon.
3. Plugged into
streaming
but still invisible
Latinos rarely appear on screen despite being avid television consumers and buying more than other demographic groups in both
streaming
subscriptions and movie tickets.
Only 5% of movie leads and 3% of series were Latino in 2020. When there are shows led by Latino talent, they are often quickly canceled even if they have a loyal audience.
And when there are characters of Latino descent, they are often played by non-Hispanic actors.
In numbers
: 38% of Latino households that pay for cable/satellite television also subscribe to
streaming
services , compared to 29% of average viewing households in the United States, according to a report by Horowitz Research.
Nearly four in 10 Latino households say they subscribe only to
streaming
platforms and have cut the cord on other services.
Subscription rates are 9% higher, on average, for Latinos than for total US viewers on Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, HBO Max and Disney+ services.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Big Picture
: There has been particular uproar over two recent cancellations, which activists say show how Latinos are being so neglected by the film and television industry.
The
Batgirl
movie will not be released despite the fact that filming has already finished with a budget of 90 million dollars, due to a change in strategy by the new directors of Warner Bros. and HBO.
Batichica is played by Afro-Latina Leslie Garcia.
The
Gordita Chronicles
series , about a Dominican family arriving in the United States in the 1980s, was canceled in late July by HBO Max after one season.
An executive told Deadline that while it has "gained critical acclaim and a loyal following," HBO/Discovery will no longer develop "family and kid-actor programming" for
streaming.
4. Uvalde postpones the return to class
The Uvalde school district will have
new back-to-school safety protocols
following the shooting of elementary school students, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced.
More details
: The state Department of Public Safety will send more than 30 officers to campuses throughout the school district before school starts in September.
The Uvalde school district delayed the start of the school year until September 6
Aug. 10, 202200:24
His presence was requested by District Superintendent Hal Harrell after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
There will be the option of virtual classes
upon request for parents who are not yet comfortable sending their children back to school.
Harrell told a school board meeting that he has permission to launch a virtual academy for anyone who wants it.
The district has already promised to improve security with 8-foot fencing and better-protected gates, reports Texas Public Radio.
Further:
A city council meeting dragged on for hours Tuesday in the face of repeated demands by parents for accountability for the slow police response to the shooting.
The councilors defended themselves against criticism by assuring that they are respecting the investigation processes.
There was also discussion of creating a memorial for the victims of the shooting, but no concrete action was taken by the council.
5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
Peruvian police raided the presidential palace
Tuesday looking for Yanifer Castillo, the sister-in-law of President Pedro Castillo, who faces an arrest warrant on money laundering charges.
Protests against the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, at the end of July 2022Carlos GarcĂa Granthon/FotohĂłlica Press/LightRocket / via Getty Images
They believed that Paredes was hiding in the palace but they did not find her.
She later turned herself in to authorities for preventive arrest.
She is accused of participating in a bribery network, in which prosecutors point to Castillo although he has not been charged and he denies the accusations.
Peruvian congressmen have initiated a process of political disqualification against Castillo due to these accusations.
Destroyed remains of the fuel depot in Matanzas, CubaAlexandre Meneghini / Reuters
2. The fire in the main fuel depot in Cuba
was finally extinguished this Wednesday after five days, but it is possible that it will aggravate the power outages on the island.
40% of the facility was destroyed, and according to the Cuban regime there will be interruptions to the electricity supply in the coming days.
The ongoing blackouts, especially pronounced since before the fire (the state power company reported blackouts for most of July), have sparked some protests.
Pachanga Thursday
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals.
Photo courtesy of Robert Flick
We congratulate our reader Robert C. Flick, from Alexandria, Virginia, who tells us that he was invited to participate as an expert in a virtual event on the future of agricultural cooperatives.
Robert Flick is an international consultant with more than 50 years of experience.
Every Thursday we publish our Pachanga, a space to highlight the small and large achievements of our readers.
If you have just celebrated an anniversary, adopted a pet or have a success at work and want to celebrate it, send an email with the details and a photo to the address axioslatino@axios.com
Thanks for following Axios Latino!
We will be back on Tuesday.
Want to read any of the previous editions?
Fidel Castro arrives at the cinema, amid controversy over the actor who plays him
Kamala Harris turns to Latinas in the fight for reproductive rights
How Mexico has recovered missing (or stolen) archaeological treasures
This Latino helped save his boss's life.
He now aspires to Congress and faces criticism
Hispanic politicians make their way in state congresses: "Latinas are unstoppable"
